In the Negative
by Mojotheomegawolf
Summary: Kate was both grateful and acerbic of her father's decision to send Humphrey away to Alpha School, and for quite obvious reasons. Reason one, was that, while they had been courted to each other for quite some time now, the two hardly had any time for each other as it was, due to Kate's duties as an alpha of the pack; and now that Humphrey was to be sent away for the winter...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Meager Moments**

Kate was both grateful and acerbic of her father's decision to send Humphrey away to Alpha School, and for quite obvious reasons. Reason one, was that, while they had been courted to each other for quite some time now, the two hardly had any time for each other as it was, due to Kate's duties as an alpha of the pack; and now that Humphrey was to be sent away for the winter, that meager amount of time that they had for each other after dark would all but diminish until his return and she worried that in his time of absence they would grow distant. She knew that Humphrey was apprehensive as well, for he had never considered the thought of actually possessing the ability to take another individual's life, or to fight, or to hunt, and on top of that, she could already foresee the harrowing treatment that he would receive from both the instructors and students alike. If she thought that seeing the cruelty done upon the weakest alpha student was bad she couldn't bear to even imagine what kind of derogatory prejudice and depravity he would be forced to endure, being an omega and all. Even further into the negative, was bearing the knowledge of her sister's alpha mate, Garth's father, Tony, having been killed in a tragic hunting accident under the young wolf's lead, and as such, Garth had become aloof and reclusive to the society of the allied Central Pack; to Lilly especially. He would not say a word to her, nor would he even hardly regard her presence whenever it was that she would try to speak to him. This in turn broke Lilly's fragile heart, and who else to seek council from than her big sister? On countless occasions had Lilly decided to stay the night in her parents' den, or when she needed to talk, Kate's, and it seemed that no matter what, nothing would be able to cheer the snowy omega's shattered spirits. Needless to say, Kate had a full plate in front of her and not the appetite to have to digest such matters.

Now, on the other side of the spectrum, there were the positives to this situation. Though Humphrey would be away from home for quite a substantial amount of time and she would miss him dearly, he would return in the spring as a fully recognized alpha, and though they had not considered such actions as of yet, he would return more than capable of being able to care for Kate whenever it was that the two would decide that they were ready to have pups. Another benefit in this situation was the likelihood of the pair being assigned corresponding duties, meaning that they would get to see each other more often, which would in turn strengthen their relationship once again. That was definitely something that she was looking forward to; and on top of all of this was the knowledge that once Humphrey made his return, he and Kate would then become eligible to assume the High Alpha positions in lee of her parents' retirement; not that they were generally elicit to ascertain such great stress and responsibility, but they were still honored that they would be trusted with such an exacerbate reverence. Today was the day that Humphrey was to be leaving with the next generation of alphas, and Kate, though upset that it was time for him to depart, was quite felicitous that she was at least dismissed from her morning duties so that she may see him off. The morning air was laced with dew as was the tall, green grass in the fields, said droplets of condensation reflecting and refracting the rays of the amber morning sunlight radiantly, giving the earth an iridescent glow that illuminated her face beautifully, bringing about a sense of new life to the majestic Jasper Park as it was gently stirred from its nightly slumber. However, these tiny details slipped Kate's collective mind on this morning, for she had focused all forethought on her mate and just exactly how they should spend their final hours together before Humphrey would be taken away and the lovable omega she had fallen for would be demolished and then rebuilt into somebody completely different. She hoped, though, that at least a few of his entities, such as his goofy grin and his corny jokes that could make her laugh even on her most exasperating of days, would remain intact. She was not generally looking forward to knowing how much her life would change if he did, but, oh well; what could she do now besides let nature take its course and hope for the best? The time of departure was not for another two hours, but Kate knew just how quickly that allotted time would dwindle away from them, so she was looking to make the most out of the every meager moment that they had left.

The two of them padded side by side through what used to be known as the Western Territory before the unification of the East and West a couple months back, chatting casually with each other, laughing, asking each other questions, anything to avert their minds from the inevitable deadline that predominantly loomed above their heads. However, intertwined with all of these emotional factoids, were Humphrey's inescapable apprehensions and they bled through his every action; despite his immense efforts to keep his mate oblivious of their presence. His laughter was quite a bit more strenuous than Kate was used to, and hidden behind his smile was an exorbitant fear. Kate could understand such feelings from him, knowing of his stature, and was more than capable of sensing such emotions; but decided not to spoil the moment by keeping Humphrey in his zone of relative comfort, thus allowing him to maintain hold on his fallacious perception of her incognizance. The wind that whispered softly across the land was fitting to Autumn in Jasper Park, the breeze being effusive, while carrying with it a subtle crispness that foreshadowed the coming winter; and it was this breeze that brushed softly through the pair's fur, causing it to sway lazily across their bodies as they strolled together for what would be their final time.

Both alpha and omega carried themselves on heavy paws, for said paws allotted their affliction with the owners of the seemingly dense appendages. Humphrey's tail tip twitched restlessly behind him, a trait that was involuntary for him and only occurred during times of great emotional disposition, and the entirety of his body was shaking as it fought so perilously to keep itself composed. It tortured Kate to see him like this, but she knew that in his current state, there was little to nothing that she could say that would be beneficial for him. Humphrey would remain a nervous wreck until the day he mastered his training, and there was nothing to be done in the meantime to help him ward off his anticipation. However, Kate knew of a trick that always seemed to calm Humphrey whenever he became ridden with anxiety, though she had never attempted the action while her mate was this tightly coiled; but there was no harm in at least trying, right?

Humphrey had just finished explaining in a less than steady voice, the things that he would miss the most about being an omega, and Kate only answered him with a curt nod, one that showed interest in his words, but also betrayed a wandering mind. Humphrey was no stranger to absent-mindedness on the behalf of those that he spoke to, having learned early in life that alphas didn't generally care about what omegas had to say; but was able to detect no sense of apathy from his mate. Instead, she seemed more so to be lost deep in the recessions of her thoughts; but what exactly it was that she had on her mind had eluded him, further adding to his initial befuddlement.

"Kate?" he asked her inquiringly.

The amber she-wolf returned from the void in her mind and allowed her eyes to once again focus on her mate.

"Yes?" she answered him.

Humphrey shifted his paws and lowered his eyes.

"If I'm… getting on your nerves, all you have to do is tell me and I'll shut my mouth," he said to her slowly.

These words crushed Kate and she immediately let her tail and ears fall limp.

"No, Humphrey," she pleaded to him, "don't think like that."

She turned her body so that she stood in front of him and she looked deep into his eyes.

"You know that I love you and that there is not a _thing_ in this world that could drive us apart."

The sincerity in her tone was almost surreal, and it was because of this that Humphrey was able to brighten up a bit. He would need that knowledge to help him fight his way through the hell of which he was certain he was being sent and he let an unpretentious grin steal upon his lips. Kate noticed the smile and mirrored it with one of her own, allowing her ears and tail to return to their natural positions on the top of her head and end of her spine. It wasn't long, however, before Humphrey's smile slowly retreated from his features, being replaced once again by a troubled scowl. Kate's face slowly deepened with his and she sighed. It was now or never if she was going to cheer him up before he had to leave; so, pausing briefly to collect herself, Kate arched an eyebrow and let a mischievous smile crawl across her lips. Humphrey took heed of this and he gave her a perturbed look. Kate saw this and she let her smile broaden, looking off to her left. Humphrey was still in the throes of confusion and henceforth his look of bewilderment became even more predominant upon his face. Kate only chuckled.

"Oh come _on,_ Humphrey," she began in a tempting tone, "I know you can't _possibly_ look at that hill over there and _not _be tempted to find yourself a hallowed log."

Kate stepped closer to him, composing herself in a manner that over exaggerated her general excitement.

"What do you say we get a few last runs in with a log sled before you go?" she asked him, nudging his shoulder playfully.

Humphrey considered as he rocked back into place. It did sound like a fantastic idea, but he just wasn't sure if he felt up to it. After all, strenuous activity and sporadic motion can be hell when your stomach is balled up into knots. He sighed.

"I- I just don't know if I can," he answered her flatly, letting his eyes fall to his paws.

Kate's face fell into one that was empathetic and she laid a gentle paw on his shoulder, causing Humphrey to lift his eyes slowly.

"Come on Humphie," she said in a soft tone, letting her amber eyes take the fashion of a begging pup's, "for me?"

Humphrey sighed in exasperation. He just couldn't say no to Kate whenever she used this tactic and he knew that she was well aware of this, but even with this knowledge, he still found it impossible to resist her. He loved her too damn much to tell her no, plain and simple and because of this, he caved, letting his eyes drop again.

"Okay," he finally answered her, lifting his eyes back to hers.

Kate smiled and nuzzled the side of his neck quickly.

"Oh come now," she said to him, catching onto his indecisiveness, "it'll be fun. Just you and me. One more day of play."

Humphrey smiled softly.

"That sounds like a good plan to me," he said to her in subtle agreement.

Kate smiled.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" she asked him excitedly, "Let's go."

Humphrey nodded and began to walk off to his right, toward the hill that Kate had pointed out and his mate followed, falling in at his left shoulder. Once again silence encased the pair as they made their way toward the hill, scoping through the forest for any kind of log that they could use for their endeavors. Kate knew that, despite her efforts, Humphrey was still laced with doubts and uncertainty, and that if she allowed this to continue to build inside of him, the stress just might kill him. She had to keep him talking; she had to keep him calm.

"_So Humphrey…_" Kate began slowly, searching her mind for anything, _any _topic of discussion that would avert his attention from reality for a moment.

Humphrey moved his eyes slowly over to her, but much like Kate had done, he let his mind remain in the depths of his imagination. Kate noticed this, but she took no heed; instead she only continued as though she hadn't seen it.

"You never did tell me how you can tell whether or not a log is in prime condition for log sledding," she inquired, hoping to appeal to his personal interests.

Humphrey looked over to her and then around the forest like he was continuing the search without even bothering to answer the question.

"Well Kate," Humphrey began slowly, catching something in his peripherals that called to his attention.

He then turned and began to make his way over to the object in mind and Kate followed him, sighing for she had inferred that he was trying to stall, or at least this information was derived from her assumptions anyway. At last Humphrey arrived at the foot of the object that he had seen and paused, sweeping some grass aside with his paw to reveal half of a log. Kate saw this and smiled, thinking that they could forget about the whole business pertaining to the condition of the logs and get on with the fun, but she was deterred when Humphrey spoke.

"This here is a perfect example," he began, making a sweeping motion over the entirety of their visual field of the log with his paw.

He then moved to the center of the left side.

"You see this right here?" he asked, pointing down at the inside "rail."

Kate moved to the other side from which he stood and leaned her head in close to his side and squinted her eyes, searching for what Humphrey was pointing out; but she couldn't see it.

"See what?" she asked confused, drawing her head back so that she may look Humphrey in the face.

Humphrey pointed again and began to pull on his side, causing a rather long, but very thin, fracture to appear along almost the entire length of the sled, said fracture twisting every which way until it ended down in the bottom of the back end of the log. Kate was amazed, for she couldn't comprehend how he had even seen that in the first place, and she looked up to him, her shock evident on her features. Humphrey noticed this and he smiled.

"See, if we had missed this crack, this log would have broken to bits just as soon as we got up to a decent speed," he explained to her, "and if that happens broken bones are the least of your concerns; so it always pays to keep an eye out for even the _slightest _detail when it comes to choosing your sled."

Kate had listened to him speak his lecture and she looked up to him in amazement.

"But what I don't understand is how you even saw that in the first place," she said to him in a slightly raised tone, "I mean, even after you pointed it out to me I couldn't see it."

Humphrey chuckled.

"Trained eyes baby-doll," he mocked to her, flashing her one of those renowned, lopsided grins of his that she loved so much as he rounded the log and came to a stop at her side, "which I'll help you get as well so that if you ever get bored or need to relieve some stress you can come out here and do this by yourself without getting yourself killed."

He finished this off by giving her a playful bump with his shoulder, causing her to shunt to the right a brief distance.

"Gee thanks," Kate laughed in mock sarcasm and used her momentum as she rocked back to knock him sideways with her hips, causing his body to swing off of its point of proper equilibrium.

He laughed as he slid back into position and this in turn caused Kate to smile.

Yes! It was working! Humphrey was finally starting to forget about having to leave! Kate kept these thoughts to herself, though, because she didn't want to tarnish the moment of happiness that they had now placed themselves in, and she turned her head back down to the log.

"Alright, so this one is no good," she inquired, moving back toward the topic of log sledding, "are there any others?"

She turned her head back to her side and every which direction behind her as she spoke, searching for another log. Humphrey fell into scoping out the vicinity as well, squinting his eyes against the glare of the ascending sun and flattening his ears against his skull. Kate let her eyes narrow against the lustrous light as well as she continued to scan the surroundings, but she could see nothing aside from the hills and the grass.

"I don't see any here Humphrey," she said finally, catching his attention.

Humphrey straightened his ears and looked over to her.

"Yeah me neither," he answered, "let's keep looking."

Kate nodded in agreement and together the pair circumnavigated the log and continued through the forest, searching every nook and cranny for a useable sled. Kate was next to spot a log and when she did, she promptly requested Humphrey's attention.

"Humphrey," she called, nudging him.

Humphrey stopped and turned to her.

"Yes?" he asked.

Kate smiled.

"I think I found one," she informed, altering her direction to the right and fixing her eyes in the near distance.

Humphrey turned and followed her gaze until he was looking at what she had seen and he immediately stopped Kate after she had only taken a few steps.

"This one's no good either," he informed, evoking a displeased "humph" from Kate.

She turned herself around and looked to him questioningly.

"Can't ride on a rotten log, silly," he told her in response to her silent accusation.

Kate smiled in embarrassment, though her patience was beginning to wear a little thin, for being wrong twice in one day was not something that she was used to. However, she kept her attitude positive because she had grown up enough to know that something like that was not worth letting herself get worked up over, and besides, Humphrey was the wolf she had chosen as her mate and she was not going to do anything to compromise that; so her annoyance she buried and moved her eyes beyond Humphrey.

And it was then that she saw it.

Up on the crest of the next hill, tilted over onto its left side, was the tail end of a log sled, this being the only visible piece for the rest of it lay just over the horizon of the elevated earth. She studied it quizzically. It _looked _alright, but she would need an "expert's opinion" so they say, in order to confirm that this log would be suitable for use. However, Humphrey caught her gaze and once again he followed it up the hill to the log and when he saw it he smiled.

"This one actually doesn't look too bad," he informed excitedly, "come on Kate, let's go check it out."

Kate smiled and nodded and Humphrey began to walk up to it with Kate following close behind, and it was noticed by Kate that Humphrey even had a bit of a skip in his stride. This made Kate smile and she followed him, arriving at his side just as they arrived at the foot of the hill and began their ascent, arriving at the top only a few seconds later. Humphrey and Kate ran their eyes over the log and Kate could tell that with each passing second that Humphrey studied the log, his excitement would grow. He rounded the log twice, keeping his eyes scanning intently over its entire vicinity and finally, when he reached the section near where the back end jutted out over the hill, he stopped and looked up to Kate with a broad smile on his face.

"Yes, I do thin-"

His smile suddenly melted and a pained look overcame his features, in turn causing Kate's face to fall as well.

"Humphrey?" she asked in a concerned tone, "what's the matter?"

Humphrey sighed and only continued to stare out at the land before him, letting the sadness shine pallidly out of his eyes. Humphrey remembered that mountain, remembered that makeshift ramp down at the bottom, and as he continued to stare, his mortification only grew until he could feel tears stinging his eyes. Kate did not understand. They were having such a good time, and then just like that, the moment died, very much like it had never existed in the first place. What could possibly have happened to cause such a peculiar occurrence? Humphrey's eyes remained fixed on the land before him and the longer he stared, the more evident his sadness became. Kate inferred that she could maybe better understand her mate's pain if she were to turn and look at whatever it was that he saw, so she did, turning her body around slowly and running her eyes out over the land beneath them. It was then that it hit her, the cruel and extirpating irony of the given situation, for she knew what it was that they were looking at; the same hill that she and Humphrey had said their final goodbyes on this very day a short year ago. Kate sighed sadly, letting her ears and tail fall limp, feeling her joy quickly jettison itself from her body being replaced promptly by the same mortification that had enveloped Humphrey, for such an irony was simply too much for her to take. This time it would be _her_ watching _him_ leave and it would be _her_ worrying about _him_. She silently cursed and strained to keep the tears from her eyes, but the damage had already been done. She knew that now there was no way to reinstate happiness between them, even if they were to turn around and leave, for they were far too devastated emotionally. Kate blamed herself, for she should have known better. She should have known that this was a bad idea to begin with.

The pair did not know how long it was that they were standing atop the hill when they sensed another presence amongst them. They turned their heads to see Winston arrive wordlessly between them, keeping his eyes fixed inquiringly upon the land before him. Tears began to flow from Kate's eyes and Humphrey felt his heart sink right out of his chest. It was time to go already? But they had hardly had the chance to say goodbye to each other! Winston swiveled his head slowly between them, locking his gaze with Humphrey's for a brief moment, wordlessly telling him what he needed to do. Humphrey only nodded with a slow sigh and moved to Kate's front, pausing a short distance before her. For an eternal moment, the two simply stared at one another, unsure about what they should say, if anything at all; and what they should do. And despite all of this, Kate did what she was certain to do. Silently, she stepped forward and embraced Humphrey in a deep hug, nuzzling her face deep into the fur on his right shoulder. For a moment, Humphrey remained motionless, but after a span of a few seconds, he returned it, slowly draping his own paws about his mate and pulling her in close. He breathed in her scent, taking in the rich, sweet smell and closed his eyes. Kate sniffled and finally pulled herself away, looking Humphrey in the eyes.

"Be careful," she stated evenly to him, letting a very faint smile creep onto her face.

Humphrey licked the side of her muzzle and pulled her in for another hug.

"Always," he whispered into her ear.

Humphrey felt a paw land gently on his shoulder and he pulled away, turning back to see Winston standing behind him.

"We must be going," he said to Humphrey gently.

Humphrey nodded and pulled Kate in close to him one final time.

"I love you," he whispered.

Kate pulled him in tight and returned her words of love and the two separated, Humphrey looking her over for a brief moment and then turning wordlessly away from her, for he knew that if he said one more word he would never leave. Winston turned with him, but stopped when he felt a paw land on his shoulder. He pivoted his body back around and gazed upon his daughter with empathy, for he knew how hard this must have been for the tow of them.

"You take care of him now, y-a hear?" he heard Kate say, seeing the tears beginning to well up in the bottoms of her eyes.

Winston smiled to his daughter and licked the tears from her cheeks.

"Don't worry about one thing honey," he condoled to her, "I _promise_ that I won't let anything happen to him."

With this said, he gave her an assuring smile and turned away, joining Humphrey down at the bottom of the hill. Though Kate could not make out what they had said, the two engaged in brief conversation as they turned and Kate watched from atop the hill as they slowly disappeared from her sight.


	2. Reality Check

**No I didn't forget about this story. I apologize for the long wait, but hopefully, this will be worth it.**

**Chapter 2: Reality Check**

The cool temperatures of the morning had become more moderate with the rising of the sun and as the fiery, golden orb climbed higher and higher into the sky, the soft and gentle breeze steadily became more pronounced across the flat plains of the training grounds, teasing the grass in varying intermittencies that made it appear as though it were a rippling sea of green.

Twenty five wolves stood in the geographic center of the field where the trees and shrubbery gave way to knee high grass and miscellaneous ground vegetation. Of these twenty five canines, only five were esteemed alphas, while the remainder of those in attendance consisted of students. As was decided during the formation of the Central Pack, ten students were sent from the Eastern half while the remaining ten hailed from the West. They were each of them unique in their own sense, some possessing the same color pelt as others, but there was not a one that shared a personality similar to any other. Most different in the group, and the oldest of the students, was Humphrey. Nineteen wolves were absolutely thrilled to have been elected to serve as the next generation of alphas, and made such excitement tangible through excessive chatter and even little games of folly; but he, on the other hand, remained aloof of such elated demonstrations. Not that he was trying to appear to be more mature than they were. He was more so too nervous to bring himself to do anything except stand alone, keeping his eyes on the ground and locking himself away in absolute silence. He could feel his heart pounding deep inside of his chest, feel his body trembling and his face heating up from the blood that rushed into his cheeks and he could feel his stomach balling up once again into tight knots which threatened to send his breakfast out into the grass.

Winston's eyes turned intermittently between Humphrey, the group of students, and the four instructors that stood before him, speaking of lessons that had been set up for the first week and most particularly, he spoke of Humphrey.

"… an omega he may be, but I _do _see some potential in him if he is given proper guidance," Winston explained to the four standing before him.

"It's still never been done before, sir," a tan Eastern originated instructor reasoned respectively, "I just worry about his physical and psychological capacities. What if he can't handle the training? What if he can't handle carnage and blood of battle?"

Winston scowled slightly, but nodded.

"We are in a time of peace, Miles," he answered, "our packs have united and the Northern Guard reports no hostilities on the Northern Border, so the worst he'll see right now would be a dead caribou."

Winston's words were sensible, but at the same time, they remained vague in pertinence to the question presented, and this in turn brought about this question from a blonde female.

"But has he ever been exposed to blood and death?" she asked him, "After all, omegas don't tend to-"

"Humphrey was forced to kill his own father when he was but a pup," Winston interrupted flatly, "that poor kid has been exposed to more crap than any wolf ever deserves. He is well aware of how it feels take a life."

This confused the blonde wolf and the red furred male that stood to her right, for they had lived in the West their entire lives and had not heard of or seen such events.

"But… wait…" she began, expressing her befuddlement through her muddled tone, "Jack and Mary never-"

Winston held up a paw, silencing her.

"Humphrey was not originally born to our pack," he informed, finally breaking to them, one of the deepest secrets that the Alphas possessed, "Jack and Mary are not his biological parents."

This brought awed expressions to all who had gathered.

"But… how-"

"I found Humphrey half starved to death near our border a little under two years ago," he confessed, "terrified, mute, and all alone."

* * *

It was a miracle that the pup could even force himself to be mobile with the condition that his paws were in. There was no padding left on even a single digit, just dried scabs that split and peeled as his journey led him further and further from his home. With each agonizing step that he took, more and more dirt would mix in with his blood, only adding to his afflictions, and deep inside of his body, he could feel his stomach crying out for sustenance. He wasn't sure if anybody was even looking for him, and by now, he had pretty well stopped caring if he were being followed. He wanted to stop, to lie down and quit, but no matter what will he tried to impose upon his beaten paws, he could not prevent them from carrying him forward. He slept little, and any sleep that he did achieve was done so on his paws, and when he would wake up, he would feel no better, for his sleep was restless, haunted. He did not know why this was happening to him, what it was that drove him so. Maybe it was the memories, the fear of his past, the guilt for what he had done that drove him so mechanically along; all he did know was that he could never go back, not after what had happened. Maybe that was it. Maybe he wanted to get as far away from that place as he could possibly get, to outrun those things that troubled him so; but somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that no matter how far he were to run, he could never escape the memories. They would be forever burned into his memory.

Tears no longer snaked through the fur on the pup's face as he no longer possessed the ability to cry. All of his tears, equaling perhaps that of the amount of tears he would have cried throughout the entirety of his life, had been shed already, in only a matter of two weeks, for he cried for more than his losses. He cried for the anguish that he felt in his body, for that which incessantly taunted his mind, and he cried for the sake of crying, wishing that he could stop, wishing that he could die, and knowing that such wishes would not be granted. Though tears no longer stung his eyes, he still sobbed, his throat choking his breaths sporadically, causing him to sniffle constantly. This in turn compromised his ability to breathe and further drained the energy that he already didn't have to begin with and henceforth made travel that much more difficult. But despite this, his paws continued to plod through the frigid, slushy mud, incapable of halting, just as his mind would be forever incapable of forgetting…

* * *

"Dad?"

The pups took a step closer to the back of the grey-coated wolf that sat silently before them, his head low. At his paws, they could see a face, normally flawless and beautiful, with silver fur and laughing, golden eyes, now splotched and matted in a deep, crimson liquid.

* * *

The pup blinked and grimaced, trying to force the scene from his mind, but it continued to play, refusing to leave him.

* * *

"Dad, what's going on?" the grey pup asked, stepping forward while pushing his tan furred sister behind him protectively.

His father's ears, once flat against the top of his skull, perked to the sound of his voice and he turned, revealing slightly more of the silver body that lay at his paws. The pup could now see more of the crimson liquid spread across the silver body's shoulders, pooled under its head and neck, and could even see some of it splattered upon his father's chest, his face, and his paws.

"Nothing, Humphrey," he replied flatly and turned to the front once more, "mommy is just resting is all. Let her sleep. She's very tired."

* * *

Humphrey's breaths became increasingly choppier and he wiped his eyes, though it was sheerly out of a habit that he had recently developed, for the tears still did not fall.

* * *

Humphrey stepped closer, his paws seeming to inch toward the ground as if testing it to see if it would burn them, and the fur on his back and neck bristling, for, though he did not yet know or recognize the scent of death, his instincts warned him that something was not right and that he should be cautious of whatever danger hid in the void. With this pace he approached, his body growing tense and tenser as he drew nearer, lowering his head until it was slightly lower than his shoulders and sampling every inch that he gained with an anxious nose. Six feet, four feet, two feet…

* * *

Humphrey swallowed laboriously at the lump that began to form in his throat and he continued to choke.

* * *

His father had not become aware of Humphrey's approach until he was right beside him and he turned quickly to the pup, pushing him away roughly with his paw, but Humphrey had seen more than enough.

His father claimed that she was sleeping, yet her eyes were opened, as was her side, the top of her head, and the underside of her neck. A section of her side had been peeled away near her ribs, exposing the bones, and beneath her and all around her was more of the crimson liquid, such liquid that he knew now to be coming from her.

* * *

Humphrey did not realize it, but his entire body trembled and his fur bristled involuntarily on end, his lips writhed back from his bright white fangs, and a low growl began to rumble down in the base of his throat.

* * *

Humphrey did not know much, being a pup, but he knew his mother was not sleeping. If she was, her eyes would have been closed, and it was not like her to be asleep this early in the day; in fact, it was not like her to be home at all at this time of day due to her obligations that she had to the pack, so why was she here now?

* * *

Humphrey stumbled on a root which poked up from the earth and he fell to the ground, striking his head against a rock, and it was here, finally, that he decided that he had had enough. He was finished. He was not going to take another step, not now, not ever. He allowed his eyes to fall closed and as he passed into unconsciousness, the recurring nightmare continued to play, signaling to him, though only to his subconscious, that his time for death had not yet come.

The pieces of the puzzle began to take shape in his mind and then began to fall into place. He realized that he had seen things similar to this in the past, only he had eaten these things that had been brought to him- dead things, things that once lived and now no longer moved. His father had brought him these things, these dead things, and now he realized the truth. His mother was dead, and his father was the one who had made it so. Tears began to well up in his eyes as he stared at his father, then at the lifeless form of his mother at his father's paws, and he began to tremble.

His sister, having been pushed away by Humphrey when he had initially began to question the situation, was still not aware of what was truly happening, and being the curious type, wanted to know.

"Humphrey, what's the matter?" she asked him, though her senses began to warn her of danger as well.

"We need to go," Humphrey told her urgently, tears in his eyes, "right now."

It was at this moment that his father turned to them and rose to his paws, leaving behind him, crimson pawprints to mark his progress toward them.

"Katharine run!" Humphrey yelled to her, fearing what would happen had their father had the opportunity to catch them.

Katharine, for the moment, locked up, too stunned to move, but when Humphrey shoved her with his shoulder, she came to life and began to run just like he had told her to do. However, the two did not move quick enough and she was caught almost immediately. She cried out with a yelp, causing Humphrey to slam his forepaws into the ground and turn back to look at her, but how he wished he hadn't. How he wished he could have avoided seeing his little sister's head being crushed in his father's jaws and then ripped from her shoulders.

* * *

His eyes pinched tightly together and he groaned softly, whimpering and kicking about, turning restlessly from side to side in his haunted and disturbed sleep.

* * *

"No!" Humphrey screamed horrified, seeing the blood as it spurted forth like a fountain from Hell from the space where his sister's head was once fixed to her shoulders.

His father lifted his head and opened his mouth, flinging her mangled skull skyward, and then turned his eyes down to Humphrey, his muzzle drenched up to his maniacal eyes in the blood of his family, and the pup felt his own blood turn to ice in his veins.

"Come here, Humphrey," his father demanded, taking a step toward him.

"Stay away!" Humphrey cried, backing away, his tail tucked between his legs and his ears folded flat against the top of his skull.

His father looked hurt, but Humphrey knew that this wasn't truly the case. He knew that he would be killed if he allowed his father anywhere near him, just as his mother was killed, and just as his sister was killed.

"Come on Humphrey," he told him, taking another step forward, "come to dad."

"Stay away from me you monster!" Humphrey screamed, turning and running out of his den, into the fading light of the day.

"Humphrey, get back here!" his father yelled and chased after him, catching the eyes of those who had stepped to the edges of their dens to see what all the noise was about.

Those who were closest could only see Humphrey being chased away by his father, but could not see any details other than that, and it was not until the scent of blood reached their nostrils that they became genuinely concerned.

Closer they came until they could see a trail of blood leading toward the den from which the pair had just come, and were quick to follow it. They did not know what to expect when they finally arrived at the den and looked inside, but what they found was enough to make even some of the toughest alphas sick to their stomachs.

Once their initial shock wore off, a span of about ten seconds or so, the High Alpha of the pack quickly turned to his subordinates, a sort of disguised desperation bleeding forth from his eyes.

"Humphrey needs help," he said to them urgently, "all alphas follow them right now and for the love of all things on this planet, kill that bastard before he does any harm to that pup. Go! Go! Go!"

Humphrey skidded to a graceless halt and ran his eyes up the sheer cliff face that he had so foolishly run himself into. He frantically searched for an alternative route, but the only option was backward in the direction from which he had come and as he moved to take that option, his father appeared before him, blocking his escape. Humphrey gasped involuntarily and slammed his paws into the dirt again then began to backpedal fearfully.

His father stepped closer, though he approached slowly, carefully watching Humphrey's every move.

"Humphrey why did you run?" he asked monotonously, stepping closer.

Humphrey didn't answer, only stepped back, his teary eyes wide with fear.

His father stepped closer, now backing Humphrey up against the cliff. Humphrey felt his tail brush against the cliff face and began to cry harder, knowing that he was now staring death in the face and that there was no way he would win, but as his father stepped closer, as he licked at the blood on his crimson stained maw, he felt a new emotion beginning to take life inside of him. He felt anger beginning to rise in his veins, the deepest, purest hatred one could ever imagine beginning to take life beneath his skin. His body continued to shake and his tears continued to fall, but each tear that was shed was now hot with the rage that boiled inside of him.

His father was nearly upon him, only three feet away from springing distance, and steadily drawing nearer.

"Stay away," Humphrey demanded softly, his voice trembling.

With the anger that was beginning to build inside, he felt courage beginning to rise up in him as well, such a courage being borne into him by his fear and his anger, and he bared his teeth against his father, his mane bristling on end, and a low growl beginning to rumble down in his throat.

"You shouldn't have run," his father said, seemingly oblivious to the display that Humphrey was giving him, "that was very bad of you Humphrey, and you know that you must be punished."

Humphrey's teeth clipped together, almost as though he was crunching on his father's bones, and he allowed his growl to rise until it was a terrible snarl.

"So I was just supposed to stand there and let you kill me!" Humphrey demanded, much to the surprise of his father, "if you think I'm going out without a fight, you're wrong. If you're gonna kill me, you'll not leave here without a permanent reminder of what you did today."

His father shook his head from side to side then focused upon Humphrey again.

"You know that fighting me is useless," he said to Humphrey, tensing to spring, "you are out weighed and way out of your league. You'd be lucky to last even three seconds."

Humphrey tensed, ready to move upon the instant that his father would leap.

"We'll see," he said with a growl.

His father, without warning threw himself at him with great force, but to Humphrey, time seemed to slow down, giving him time to think, and just before his father could land upon him, he moved to the side, avoiding certain death.

Time returned to normal at this moment and he turned to his father, but was immediately struck in the side of his head by a large paw. He was sent bouncing across the ground and struck the wall with a dull thud, coming to rest on his stomach.

He groaned and began to try to take his paws again, rising starkly from the ground and lifting his head.

He saw his father mid bound as he moved in for another attack and rolled to the side quickly, though this could not have worked better even if he had planned it, for, though this incident occurred by complete accident, he moved in a specific time frame to where his father was too near to the wall to alter his direction and he struck it head first with a loud crack. Humphrey heard him yelp and turned in time to see him fall to the ground. Humphrey, blinded by his rage and his pain, took the opportunity for what it was worth and rushed forward at his father. His father groaned and began to lift his head, but was suddenly struck by something hard that dazed him and forced him to lay his head down again.

Humphrey knew that if he used his paws against his father, he would accomplish nothing, for he was far too weak physically to do any kind of real damage, so he decided to improvise. On his way toward his father he picked up a rock that was on the ground and brought it slamming down upon the side of his head, hoping to level the playing field a little. He lifted his paw to deliver another blow, hell bent upon bashing the bastard's brains out, but he would not get his chance, for as he began to swing his paw downward toward his father's skull he felt claws dig into his underside and he was lifted from the ground then sent hurtling backward. The rock fell from his paw as he struck the ground and he finally came to rest on his side, grimacing from the searing pain that he felt from cuts on his stomach. He chanced a moment to glance down at his body and found that, while his cuts leaked a fairly substantial amount of blood, they were not deep enough to threaten his life, but were deep enough to inflame the muscles, and crippled his motion considerably. His father leapt at him again and Humphrey rolled away just in time to escape from being impaled by his father's claws. Using his momentum, Humphrey rolled to his paws and dodged another attack, though he was consistently slower due to the pain in his stomach.

He jumped away from a swing that his father took at him, but landed wrong and his paws rolled out from under him, sending him crashing down to the ground. He bounced and finally came to rest beside a bush. Humphrey grunted and again tried to stagger to his feet, but as he tried to rise, he was pinned by a large paw.

* * *

Humphrey groaned restlessly in his sleep, pinching his eyelids tightly together.

* * *

"Sir, do you smell that?" a grey wolf asked, catching the attention of another older wolf.

He stopped and sampled the wind with his nose, catching the faintest whiff of something foreign, something that clearly did not belong. Not wanting to take any chances, lest the scent was that of a dangerous intruder, he turned to his subordinate.

"Come with me," he said softly, "but be careful. I only smell one, but there could be more."

* * *

He cried out involuntarily and tried desperately to push the paw off of his chest, but his father was simply too strong, rendering him helpless.

"I warned you this was futile Humphrey," he gloated, "but don't you worry, I'll make this quick. After all, I'm sure everybody is just DYING to see you."

Humphrey opened up his eyes with a growl and stared up at his father with hatred boiling forth through his gaze, and it was at this point that pain left him entirely. He felt a dull pop as one of his ribs was snapped, but remained incognizant to the searing pain that shot through his chest.

His father laughed, continuing to press, but Humphrey was not going anywhere yet. He turned his eyes to the bushes behind him, finding a small, but stout stick, one that was fortunately pre-sharpened, and took it into his paws. His father saw this and laughs loudly.

"What do you plan to do with that," he teased, pressing down ever harder.

"I'm gonna kill you with it," Humphrey coughed, causing the larger wolf to laugh even harder.

He lowered his head down near Humphrey's and smiled sinisterly.

"And how do you intend to do that with such a puny-"

His father didn't get to finish, for as his mouth opened long enough for Humphrey to do so, he jammed the stick up into the roof of his father's mouth, near the throat where the flesh became tender. There was a cough, a pop as the stick jabbed through his mouth and into the bottom of his brain, and a groan from his father. Humphrey felt blood and saliva drip onto his forehead then felt the pressure loosen up on his chest and pushed himself out from under his father's paw and rose to his feet, watching as his father slowly died.

His father was brain dead, staggering around in circles, his mouth agape with the stick still hanging from it, and finally he fell dead to the ground, a small pool of blood beginning to form around his head. Humphrey, for a moment, stood silently, shocked by what he had done, and as he stared, sound seemed to mute and time seemed at a stand still. He had just killed his father, the wolf whom he had loved from the very depths of his heart, and loved him still, despite the foul deeds he had committed. But how could he think like that? This wolf was responsible for the death of his mother and his sister, and would have killed him as well. How could he still feel love for the wolf who had murdered his family?

He did not get the opportunity to sort the situation out any further, and had he had such an opportunity, his fate may have turned out quite differently, and may have even had such a drastic turn in his life that he would have never set paw in the West, but he was snapped away from his daze when he heard the distant snap of a twig, followed by muted voices. Suddenly thrusted once more into the world of reality, he found himself to be flustered, panicked almost. He didn't know what to do. He had just killed his own father. He was a murderer, and surely when they found out, they would take him away. He couldn't live to face them, could not live to face what he had done, so he did the only thing that seemed rational to him at the time. He ran.

* * *

"Winston," the male called, standing over Humphrey's unconscious body, "it's a pup."

Winston stepped quickly to his side and gazed down upon the tiny pup, watching as he restlessly thrashed about, whimpering, wincing, groaning, growling.

"Where did he come from?" Winston asked.

"I don't know, sir," the alpha replied, "I just found him here like this, but wherever he's from, it certainly isn't anywhere near here. I've never even smelled a scent like his before."

Winston stared down at the pup's unconscious form, taking in his bleeding paws, his weary, hunger-ridden body. He saw blood coating the pup's face, but there were no wounds on his face to suggest where it might have come from, so he could only guess as from where he had obtained it. He saw on the pup's underside three long cuts that had healed, but were horribly infected due to their lack of care, and finally the bump on the top of his head that would explain why he was unconscious.

* * *

"... I had no idea who he was or where he came from," Winston said to those around him, "but I knew that if I didn't help him he would have died, so I picked him up by the scruff of his neck and carried him home."

The others sat silently, staring at Winston with awe evident in their eyes.

"I had no idea," the blonde wolf said softly.

Winston nodded.

"Eve took care of him, tended to his wounds, and had even planned on adopting him," Winston continued, "but when we learned that Mary was sterile, we gave her and Jack Humphrey to raise as their own."

"So... Humphrey..." Miles began slowly, "how is it that he managed to become so attached to them? I mean, he looks like he truly loves them."

"He does," Winston replied, "it took some time, but eventually he came to see Jack and Mary as the parents he had lost. They love him as a son, just as much as he loves them as his parents. Heck, if I had to make any kind of deduction here, I'd say that they've all but replaced his parents."

"This is incredible," the blonde said to him, "almost unbelievable."

"Look at his stomach next chance you have," Winston said to all who sat around him, "and you'll find the scars from the cuts, just in case you need a little proof, but for now, we need to stick to planning out how exactly it is that we're going to train him."

Humphrey could not hear the conversation that took place, but he could only assume that he was the focal point of the discussion, and this in turn made him feel worse, wrenching his stomach into even tighter knots.

The other alpha pups continued their folly around him, and even they were whispering to each other about him, sniggering, already thinking of ways to prey upon him, for, though he was almost a year older than them, they knew that he was an omega and therefore would stand no chance against them. All they would have to do was buy their time, act a little, and then just as soon as his guard was down, let him have it.

"Students fall in," Winston called to the alphas to be.

The twenty in question rose to their feet and approached, though Humphrey's progress was slow and almost mechanical, carried out by heavy paws

Once all had arrived and sat down, Winston began.

"Future alphas of the East and West, I would like to first impress upon you that this class will be anything but fun like some of you have come to believe," he stated, "it will test your body, your mind, and your courage. Your body will hurt, your paws will bleed, you will be sick, exhausted, you will know how it feels to so close to death that you can shake his boney paw. You will know how it feels to be so physically broken that you will wish that you could go home and settle for a life as an omega, but in time you will learn that you are a whole lot stronger, and also a whole lot weaker than you had previously believed. This class is not for the faint of heart, but I trust that all of you will be able to gut it out and that all of your will walk out of here next spring as fully recognized and trained alphas.

Some of the pups smirked excitedly upon hearing this, for they felt as though they had been issued a challenge, while others, Humphrey especially, gulped, feeling an unshakable anxiousness beginning to settle in upon them.

Winston ran his eyes out over the pups, already beginning to separate mentally the wolves from the sheep, but Humphrey remained undecided in his mind for the time being as he did not know as of yet exactly how he would stack up, but he did know that Humphrey had an uncanny tendency to surprise, and this caused him to lean more toward his being a wolf, for, even if the diamond underneath may need a little polish to make it shine, he sensed greatness in the wolf who had married his daughter.

"Now," he began again, "for the first order of business, you will be divided out into your groups. Miles?"

Said wolf stepped to his side and Winston backed off, allowing him to work.

"Alright," the tan colored wolf from the Eastern precinct of the Central Packs began, running firm eyes over the students, "Austyn, Matthew, Sloan, and Cole, step forward."

The five pups named did as they were told, though some were more cautious and more hesitant than others.

"The four of you, get to the right now," Miles commanded.

The pups began to walk toward the river and this caused Miles to scowl.

"On the hop, let's move!" he yelled.

The pups jumped and then began to run, moving quickly toward the river.

Miles turned to Winston, was wished a farewell, then began to jog toward the river to join his students for their first day of training.

The next instructor to step forward was Dakoda, the blonde female from the West and she stared upon them with a piercing blue gaze.

"I need for Ian, Nick, Rain, and Ivan to step forward and then report to the rocks," she said to the group.

Those named rose and took their respective positions before the alpha, awaiting further instruction.

"Good, we're all here," she mused, "but my question to you is why, especially when you all were instructed to report to the rocks."

The pups all looked at each other and shrugged, rising to their feet and beginning to walk toward the rocks, but just as Dakoda opened her mouth to motivate them to move faster, they began to run. Satisfied, she turned to Winston.

"Be seeing you around, Winston," she said, receiving an affirmative nod in response, then moved off to join her students.

Erik, the red furred male, was next to take his place in center stage.

"Zach, Gauge, Berai, and Elizabeth you will go to weight training," he said to them, "and all of you'd better beat me there or else you'll start your day with a two mile run."

With that said he began to jog toward the place designated for weight training, causing the four pups named to panic.

Quickly they turned and began to shove their way roughly out of the group then began to scramble toward their assigned location, but we're not very hopeful of getting there on time as Erik was already half way there.

As they grew distant, the pups who remained turned forward and their hearts sank into the bottoms of their stomachs, for they had hoped that they would not have to be under the instruction of the large black furred wolf. He was a giant, with harsh emerald eyes, a battle scarred face and half of a left ear. By simply looking at him, one could feel shivers creep down their spine, for he possessed a certain aura of harshness that caused the blood in their veins to turn to ice. Humphrey gulped as he stood before them. He stood a whole head larger than the Garth, and thus far, Garth had been the largest wolf he had ever laid eyes on, and under his fur, muscles that were splendid and swollen rolled dominantly into place with each movement he made.

"So this is what I've got to work with?" he mused with a voice as abrasive as sandpaper, running his eyes over the horrified pups, "three pussy-foot alphas and an omega?"

Humphrey felt his stomach lurch into the base of his throat and nearly lost his lunch, but was able to maintain control of his body and lifted his head to the black wolf once again.

"Won't this be fun," he said loudly, "I can't wait to see how our little experiment holds up against the rest of you, though I'd have a hard time calling any of you worthy, but who knows, just maybe you'll surprise me."

Winston smiled and laid a paw on his shoulder.

"Good luck, Cail," he said then turned and walked away to see how other groups were doing.

Cail nodded then turned to the pups once again.

"Now, you will call me Alpha, Sir, or for those who are bold old enough, Captain, but anything else will be treated as insubordination and will be handled in any means that I see fit, is that clear?"

There was no response.

"Looks like we get to start the day off with a few forget-me-nots," he mused with a shake of his head, "line up!"

The pups were shocked to life and scrambled into formation.

"Start running," Cail ordered, "and when I bark forward roll then keep running, go!"

The students began to run quickly, though the alpha pups were significantly faster than Humphrey and that was quickly proven as he was soon a whole six feet behind the others.

Cail saw this but ignored it for the moment and sounded the first bark.

Humphrey had not the first clue as to how to perform a forward roll, but was not going to disobey orders lest he wanted to make them do more, so he tried his best to attempt one, though he wound up turning over his shoulder rather than his head. The other students, though, did as instructed and demonstrated perfect rolls then kept running.

Cail allowed them to travel about another ten yards or so then barked again and once again the students rolled, though, as he had done before, Humphrey failed to perform a forward roll. Cail had expected this and would allow it for now under the hopes that he should figure it out during the exercise.

In the time that it took for him to process these thoughts it was time for another roll so he barked and once again the students rolled.

"Now stop!" he called after they had traveled another ten yards or so.

The students stopped, all except for Humphrey who still needed to finish, but he quickly reached them then turned to Cail, significantly more winded than the others.

"That's one," Cail called to them, "now start running back, and when I bark I want you to crouch then begin to low crawl toward me, and if I catch a single one of you more than six inches above the ground when we low crawl you'll start all over, now begin."

The students began to run and when Cail administered the first bark, the students dropped and began to low crawl, but one was not low enough.

"Jake, not low enough," he called, "everybody back to the line."

There was a groan from the others as they straightened themselves out then began to make their way back to where they had started.

"Go," Cail ordered and they began to run again.

He waited until they got about twenty yards then barked, signaling for them to low crawl, and at first they did quite well, but that changed when one could no longer stand the burn in his legs and straightened himself.

"You can thank your friend Mark for this one," Cail called, "everyone back to the line."

"God dammit Mark!" one of the pups yelled, straightening himself out, "stay low!"

Mark growled, displeased by his own weakness then turned and headed back to the line.

"Go!"

They groaned and took off once more, then began to low crawl once the bark sounded, but they did not get far as they had to go back for Jake.

"Jake, how the hell is it that the damned omega is better at this than you!" Brooke, the only female of the group yelled, "stay low!"

Jake groaned, straightening himself up with trembling legs, then began to head back to the line.

"Go!" Cail said again for the fourth time.

They groaned and took off again, and this time, when the bark was administered, the drill was performed properly. Satisfied, Cail ordered them to rise and then sprint to the other side.

"There's two," he said, "now, for your next drill, you are to run and when I bark you are to stop, jump as high as you can, hit your paws and then immediately fall onto your back, then flip around onto to your chest. Once there, forward roll and then keep running. Go!"

The students took off, low grunts of pain and fatigue from all of them, and traveled about twenty feet or so before Cail administered the first bark.

Immediately, they all stopped and jumped into the air, though Humphrey, in comparison to the others, was jumping low. Cail, though did not care, for, though the point in these drills was to teach discipline, he had an ulterior motive for making the students engage in such laborious activities. He was evaluating each individual's strengths and weaknesses. Jake and Mark needed to work on their low crawling capabilities, lest they wanted to be spotted by caribou and their hunts to result in failure, Brooke needed to work on her running form and her temper, but was otherwise a fine student, more than capable of being a leader, Michael, one of the largest in the class selected, needed to work on his speed, as he did not yet know how to utilize the strength in his size, and Humphrey, though slow, was a good runner; however, he needed to work on his speed, his endurance, his low crawl form was awful, and he had not the slightest idea as to how to turn a forward roll. He would certainly need to work on that more before their lessons in turning flips.

The students performed the drill as instructed, then continued to run, traveling about another ten yards before Cail barked again and the process was repeated.

Those who ran quick enough, made it to the line after four barks, but Humphrey and Michael, who were just a little bit slower than the others, had to pay for their sluggishness with an extra bark. As they crossed the finish line, Michael only a few steps before Humphrey, they turned to face Cail, their heads low and their tongues lolling out of the front of their mouths.

"Next drill will be log rolls," Cail informed, causing everybody to curse softly under their breaths, "get going."

The students looked to him with lowered heads, but none of them moved.

"What is this? Do none of you know how to log roll?" Cail asked incredulously.

Nobody answered.

"One day you'll break your silence," he said, "you've just earned yourselves two more, now I ask again, none of you know how to log roll?"

They all groaned in displeasure.

"Wanna make it three?"

"No alpha," Humphrey replied with a pant, causing Cail to turn to him.

"Ah, so we do have a brain in the bunch after all," he mused, "you can thank Humphrey for the deduction of one of your drills, now, do any of you know how to log roll?"

"No alpha," they all replied, winded.

"Jake, lay down," Cail said.

Jake did as he was told.

"Now roll on your side."

Jake did as instructed and began to roll.

"And there you have it," Cail said, "now the rest of you follow."

They all got down then began to roll on their sides, though some demonstrated treks that were anything but straight.

Humphrey was at first grateful for this exercise, as he was not sure if he could take another running drill without taking a break lest he wanted to fall over dead from exhaustion, but was quick to learn that this was far from the break that he was looking for. The scent of warm grass forced its way invasively into his nose and compromised his breathing, and after a few more feet, he felt his stomach beginning to churn. He could taste bile in the back of his throat, and could feel his mouth beginning to salivate uncontrollably. He knew he was going to be sick before his stomach even began to lurch and stopped on his belly, panting heavily and spitting.

"Humphrey, what's th-"

Cail cut himself off when he saw the first volley of vomit shoot from Humphrey's mouth and into the grass, a putrid mixture of red and yellow. He groaned and then puked a second time, though this time the vomit was choked into his throat and came out in a crumpled chunk of smaller meat chunks that broke apart upon hitting the ground. Cail turned to the students, finding them to have stopped on their stomachs to watch and scowled.

"I did not instruct you to stop," he seethed, and the students continued.

Humphrey spat and his body lurched again, only this time nothing came up, so it lurched again and still nothing rose.

"Gah," he moaned and spat again, hoping that there was nothing left to expunge.

"Come on Humphrey," Cail said, producing a wet caribou hide and draping it on his head.

Humphrey groaned again and attempted to vomit one final time, spewing only what acids remained in his stomach before finally settling.

"Son you really need to learn to chew," Cail commented, removing the hide towel and dipping it into a bowl of cold water, "lift your head and open your mouth," Cail then said to Humphrey, removing the hide from the bowl and then wringing the water out with his paws.

Humphrey felt water beginning to drip on his muzzle and opened his mouth to catch it, desperate for a drink. The water poured into his mouth and he swallowed at it greedily, rejecting some into the grass so that he could rinse out his mouth and take a quick breather, then drank again. Cail took his time as he did this so as to not drown the omega, for he knew that he was already having enough trouble breathing as it was, and also to give him a moment to rest.

"Alright Humphrey, move about five feet that way so you're not rolling around in your own puke and catch up with the others," he instructed after about thirty seconds or so.

Humphrey didn't know if he could do it, for never before in his life had his body been thrown into such physically demanding work and he somehow knew that this was far from the worst pain that he would experience. He wasn't going to be able to make it. He was too weak.

"I can't," he groaned, panting, still spitting out small chunks of meat, "I'm done."

"No you're not," Cail encouraged, "look you're already half way there, I know you've got more in you than that, Humphrey. If you didn't have greatness in you then how in the hell could you have ever made it all the way back here from Idaho?

Humphrey shook his head and began to rise to his feet, intent upon walking away, but was stopped when he saw another wolf appear by his side.

"Come on Humphrey," Jake said to him, "he's right. You're almost there, don't give up now. Just a few more turns."

"Come on Humphrey," the other students cheered, encouraging him to keep pressing forward, "don't you quit on us. You can make it."

"Come on Humphrey," Cail began, "everybody else believes in you, now the only one left who needs to believe is you. Now get going."

Humphrey felt a new energy begin to wash over him, fueled by the other students' encouragement, and with a determined scowl and a grimace, he began to roll again.

"Come on Humphrey don't quit," Jake called, walking beside him, "twenty more feet. Come on. That's it! Go!"

Humphrey groaned loudly, for his sides hurt and his head was so off that he didn't even know where he was anymore, but that all ended when finally he heard the words, "that's it, you're done!"

He stopped and laid down on his stomach, panting hard, surrounded by his peers, but they did not stand too close so as to give him space to breathe.

"Good job Humphrey," Cail said, placing a paw on his shoulder, "I'm proud of you."

Humphrey panted an looked up to him with a fatigued smile.

"Thank you alpha," he thanked exasperatedly.

Cail nodded then turned to his students.

"Tell you what, if you can get him to the river in a brisk jog, I'll overlook those last few drills, and you can use that time to rest up before the first lesson," Cail said, "but if you allow him to stop, you'll all do drills until you puke your lungs out, now get going."

"Yes alpha," the students answered and then crowded around Humphrey, helping him to rise, and once he was up, they began to gently push him into motion with soft shoves and words of encouragement.

Humphrey began slow, but quickly picked up speed, and, though he stiff upon shaky legs, began to jog to the river with the rest of his class surrounding him, cheering him on."

Cail watched as they grew smaller in the distance and as they made it to the river, he couldn't help but allow a small smile to creep across his face.

"Yes," he mused to himself, "he'll do just fine here."


	3. Chapter 3 A Demanding Plea for Unity

**Chapter 3 A Demanding Plea for Unity**

The hours seemed to roll along almost as though on a normal day for Kate. She worked her shift, taking care of whatever tasks needed done, and once that was finished, she had spent the remainder of her day visiting her family. During this time it seemed as any other routine day, nothing was missing, nothing was different, and it would be because of this that she would be able to move the current situation to the back of her mind and live as though nothing were wrong.

It was not until she had walked into her den late that evening, however, that the reality of the situation had settled in upon her, for as she stepped into the den that she and Humphrey had dug, she found it to be cold and empty.

It felt almost surreal to her, coming home to an empty den, for he was always there to greet her with a smile and a kiss, even on his worst days when his sleep had been haunted by nightmares, and it wasn't until now that she realized just how much she missed it. They were nothing special, nor fancy, but his greetings, his smiles, and his kisses came from the deepest depths of his heart, and when he asked her how her day had gone, he would listen contently, even if she snapped at him wrongfully in place of that which had served as irritants throughout her day.

There was their spot in the back of their den where they had made love on their honeymoon, and in the corner was where they slept, always together. She would curl herself up into a ball and he, as gently and carefully as he could, like handling the most valuable of artifacts would wrap his body around hers and then deposit his head lightly atop the back of her neck and for at least an hour they would remain like this, silent, content with listening to the other's breathing as a way to prove that what they shared was real.

She found now that all of her forethought revolved around Humphrey. She wondered how he was doing, wondered how his first day of Alpha Training had gone, if he missed her as much as she missed him now when she realized that it's the simplest things like his evening greetings that she missed the most now that he was no longer there to give them.

She sighed softly, running her eyes over the empty den then chuckled to herself softly.

"Look at me," she thought, "been gone one day and I make it seem as though he had died." Again she chuckled. "I'm such a worry wart."

With that said, she padded into the den and laid down in their spot, though on this night, she knew she would be cold without her mate to hold her so safely in his arms.

* * *

Finally the howl that the students had been waiting for all day sounded and brought an end to their drills, but more importantly to them, to their first day of training.

Humphrey had to be dragged out of the river yet again, for he was simply not strong enough to swim against its current as he was instructed to do and as he was laid out on the shore and his safety harnesses (fastened from vines) were removed, he swore to never even so much as look at water again. He lay on his back, splurged water from his lungs, and breathed heavily, feeling the cold liquid as it rolled through the fur all over his body.

"Alright," Cail said, looking toward the center of the grounds, the area from which the howl had risen, then turned to them once again, "get Humphrey to his feet and over to Alpha Miles."

"Yes sir," they replied uniformly and began to take to Humphrey's sides.

Humphrey coughed again, opened his eyes and cursed softly under his breath, for his entire body felt as though it were made of jelly. He had no strength left in his legs, no control over his heartbeat, and was so distant that he could barely remember his own name. He was the worst of the students physically following the first day of training since he got the brunt of the drills, being the black sheep of the bunch, but there were those who were not fairing much better than he.

Though it had taken the forget-me-nots, a half mile jog, a death crawl, weight training, another half mile jog, a rigorous set of grass drills, and the river to do so, two of the other students had lost their breakfast then their lunch later as the training ended at noon, giving the students a two hour lunch break before they had to resume at two o'clock and then finally finish at seven.

Humphrey, despite his weakness, was able to be helped to his paws, and with one classmate on each side of him for support in case his knees should buckle, he began to make his way to the center of the training grounds where he and his class would meet up with the others.

All was silent in the huddle which surrounded Miles and the other instructors, save the heaving pants of the students, for none had the energy left to speak. Though everybody sat on their haunches around the instructors, most of them had their heads down on their chests for they lacked the strength to even lift their heads.

"I would like to start by congratulating you guys," Miles began, "you've all survived your first day of training."

The students, those who were not so near to collapse as the others, anyway, allowed meager smiles to form upon their lips and everybody lifted their heads.

"Now, I'm not gonna sugarcoat this," Miles continued, "based off of the reports given by the other instructors, you all have a lot of hard work ahead of you if you are to walk away from here with the right to call yourselves alphas, in fact, you are probably one of the worst groups we've ever had to train. Granted, you do have those amongst you who are better, but only hardly, and there is not a one of you that is in any way shape or form, ready for what lies ahead."

The students sat listening, sweat pouring down their faces, but there were many who did not like what they were hearing, for they knew for a fact that they were at the very least better than the omega, who in their minds was a weak-bodied, weak-hearted waste of time who had absolutely no right to be one of those chosen to become an alpha, regardless of the fact that he may someday be leading the pack. On top of all of this, they felt threatened as well, for if, on the slight chance Miles' words were true and not lies to provoke motivation, they would be put to shame by something who was to them lower than the dirt they walked upon, and they would not allow such a thing to happen. They had far too much pride to allow themselves to be bested by inferiorities. It was time to set things right, time to put the omega in his place.

"...be waking up at four o'clock tomorrow morning, so make sure that you get some rest. You'll need it."

There were groans of distaste from nearly everybody, for they knew just how early four o'clock would come after all they had endured today.

Miles smiled.

"Your enthusiasm is music to my ears," he said with a sneer, "Alpha Erik, you have any words?"

The red-furred male shook his head silently.

"Alpha Dakoda?" Miles asked, turning to the blonde.

"Make sure you wash up before going to bed," she said to him, "we don't want any diseases to spread through the sleeping dens, and yes it is mandatory."

The students nodded.

"Alpha Cail?" Miles asked.

"I would like to commend my group for their ability to act as a unit," Cail began, "though it seemed as though the most of it revolved around picking our omega friend up off the ground."

There was a soft chuckle amongst the group and Humphrey lowered his head ashamed.

"But they did not give up on him nor did he give up on himself and for that I am quite proud. Watch and perhaps you'll see that he is more than meets the eye."

The students turned quick glances back at Humphrey and around through the masses in search for the others in his class then turned to the front.

"Alright," Miles began, "make sure you wash up, your names will be in front of the den in which you've been assigned to sleep, and make sure that you rest up. Dismissed."

The students rose starkly to their paws and began to plod their way over toward the river where the current was not so strong and upon arrival began to file their way into the water.

Humphrey was so ill of body that he practically threw himself into the water despite his earlier resolution to never go near it again and lay on his back motionlessly, his eyes lightly closed.

That is until his tail was stepped upon.

He yelped involuntarily and his upper body shot out of the water until it was arrested and shoved forcefully down once again and pinned.

He opened his eyes to find a brown-furred male standing atop of him, his teeth bared.

"Who the hell do you think you are, omega," he demanded with a snarl, pressing down harder on his chest, "you have no right to be here you pathetic piece of shit."

"Get off of him, Gauge," Jake demanded, stepping in beside Humphrey and growing threateningly, "he has as much right to be here as anybody else."

Gauge scoffed.

"Shove off, douchebag, this is between me and the runt," he replied smugly.

Jake growled louder, drawing the attention of the others.

"I'm not gonna ask you again," he warned, "get off of of him."

Gauge smiled.

"And just what is it that YOU are gonna do about it?" he asked incredulously, "save yourself the humiliation of getting your ass kicked and leave this business to myself."

"Guys, stop," Rain said demanded, stepping between them, "Gauge, leave him alone and get to bed."

"Shut up, bitch," Gauge growled, "let your boyfriend fight his own battles."

"Bitch?" she asked pointedly, "who's the one trying to have a dick-swinging contest with everybody all the time? Sounds to me like somebody is trying to compensate for something."

The others who watched laughed, causing Gauge to snarl loudly.

"Shut your mouth you little whore!" he seethed, getting off of Humphrey and beginning to stalk his way toward her.

Rain tensed, preparing for battle, but was surprised when Gauge was leapt upon and taken down by Humphrey.

This immediately resulted in a riotous uproar from the others and snarls shot into the air.

The instructors heard this and sighed.

"It's started already," Erik mused with a shake of his head.

"I'll put an end to this," Miles stated and turned away.

Humphrey and Gauge rolled around in the shallow water, splashing, struggling, clawing, biting, fighting for the upper hand and those around who watched cheered them on.

"Come on, Humphrey!" Mark yelled, "kick his ass!"

Humphrey rolled and threw a paw down upon Gauge's muzzle, causing his teeth to click together painfully, and all the while the others cheered them on, not a one wanting to break up the fight.

"That's enough!" a loud voice suddenly boomed and the two were ripped away from each other.

Gauge tried to throw in a cheap shot as Humphrey was pulled away, but missed and rose to his feet, soaking wet, and above all, physically and pridefully sore.

"What the hell is this all about!" Miles demanded, turning sharp eyes between everybody who stood in the shallow water.

"Gauge started it," Rain voiced immediately, "he attacked Humphrey."

"Bullshit," another voice interjected, "Humphrey jumped him!"

Bickering ensued between the students and Miles snarled loudly, causing them silence themselves once more.

"Until we figure out what really happened here, you are ALL guilty of lying," he seethed, "and until everybody is willing to be straight and give me the real story, you'll all be running until your paws fall off! Move!"

The students all groaned and began to run, some faster than the others, but they quickly began to slow down as the distance grew.

About three hundred yards later, Miles ordered them to stop.

"Anybody got anything they'd like to say?" he asked, one student lifted his head, but Miles spoke before he could, "no? Why don't you all get down on your stomachs and start doing push-ups? Now!"

They groaned again and began to do as they were told, pushing their bodies off of the ground with wobbly legs.

"Repeat after me," Miles ordered, "we are a unit."

"We are a unit," the students replied shakily.

"And we shall act as one or we'll do this shit all night."

"And we shall act as one or we'll do this shit all night."

"We will not lie to our superiors," Miles continued.

"We will not lie to our superiors," they repeated, pushing up yet again with a grimace and groan.

"And we will treat each other with mutual respect regardless of rank or gender."

"And we will treat each other with mutual respect regardless of rank or gender."

"With all of this said, I believe we are ready to tell the truth, if not, then we will continue this until we are."

"With all of this said, I believe we are ready to tell the truth, if not, then we will continue this until we are."

"Now rest," Miles ordered and the students threw themselves down on the ground with a synchronized groan.

Miles ran his eyes over the group.

"Who wishes to speak up?" he asked.

"Gauge did it," one student answered and the others nodded in agreement.

Miles turned to Gauge.

"Is that true?" he asked.

Gauge growled under his breath.

"Yeah," he replied venomously, "it is."

Miles smiled.

"Good, so they can be taught," he mused, "everybody except for Gauge and Humphrey, wash up again and go to bed."

The others rose and began to make their way toward the river once again and once they were gone, Miles turned down to them.

"Get up," he demanded.

Gauge grunted impatiently and rose to his feet, as did Humphrey, though his grunt was brought about by his soreness.

"Since you were the root of all of this, you get to run around the perimeter three times," he mused to Gauge, "and after that, if I feel as though you've learned your lesson, I'll allow you to sleep. Now get moving."

Gauge growled under his breath and began to run.

"Better make that four!" Miles called after him.

As Gauge grew distant, Miles turned to Humphrey.

"As for you," he stated, "I'm proud of you for sticking up for yourself. That took balls kid." He reached a paw out for Humphrey and helped him to his feet.

"Thank you, sir," he panted, releasing the alpha's paw.

Miles nodded.

"Go get cleaned up and get some rest," he said, "you'll need it."

Humphrey nodded and walked toward the river once more, washed his body, then carried himself toward the sleeping area where he found his den and, despite the early hour, was asleep before his head even touched his paws.


	4. Danger Close

**Chapter 4: Danger Close**

The sun rose over the peeks of Mount Takkara and bathed the park in its livid, amber rays, beating back the darkness of night where it would hide beneath the cover of the trees and the rocky outcroppings until it should rule again as the great yellow orb retreated behind the great Indian Ridge in the west.

Darkness fled into the deepest recessions of the den as the light slowly encroached upon it, reaching the eyes of Garth, but these eyes would not need to be stirred to life by the presence of light as they had not been closed long enough for him to drift away into sleep all night, much the same as it had been since the passing of his father two weeks ago. He knew not that he was an insomniac, for to him day and night blended together in an incomprehensible blur of time, but Lilly was beginning to grow considerably concerned about his health.

In a span of two weeks, he had eaten only but two bites of any meal that had been presented, had been completely deprived of sleep, hydration, and hygiene, something that he himself was particularly meticulous about, and refused to speak, no matter who it was that addressed him. He just laid there in the back of the den and stared blankly at the wall or at the floor, silent, alone. Often times Lilly would ponder what thoughts ran through his mind, if any at all, and more often times than that would fear for his sanity. She had seen first hand where insomnia could lead, beyond the boundaries of normality to the unpredictable realm of the schizophrenics where all impossibilities to those who had a grip on reality became limitless possibilities for those that did not, especially when such impossibilities were the filling of voids that one felt needed to he filled in the absence of certain things that they desired, but have lost, or could have never gained without it. But then again, what did she honestly have to worry about? Garth was resilient. All he needed was a little bit of time to get his head around everything and to take that unpleasant journey on the road toward coping with his loss. Once he achieved this, he would be just fine. All he needed was a little time.

But then still, what if he wasn't as strong as she made him out to be? What if he either died or lost his mind? How could she live with herself if she sat back and watched as he slowly wilted under the crushing weight of his guilt and his grief under the mere assumption that everything would work out in the end, and it led to his demise? It was these troubling thoughts that had kept her up all night as well, though unlike her mate, she was restless. Throughout the night she had paced, laid down upon nearly inch of their den floor, watched him, tossed, turned, pondered, killed time by doodling in the sand with her claws, and had even grown so bored as to write little verses of poetry, but none of it possessed any meaning, for she was not trying to make sense out of what she wrote, but wrote as a means of attempting to make sense out of what she needed to do and would wipe them away as soon as they were finished.

Silently she lay now, watching him intently with eyelids drooping so that they hung half closed, but she knew she could not sleep once the sun had risen, so there was no point in her staying like this. Time to start the day.

"Garth, I'm gonna go out," she informed dejectedly, for she knew there was no real point in telling him where she was going, and pressed herself up onto her paws.

Garth, as she had expected, remained silent, so she turned and walked slowly away, stepping forth from her den and out into the world of Jasper Park, Canada where death and destitute turned to life and prosperity. She paused just outside of the mouth of the den and watched with a sigh the pups as they romped and played, the mates and young lovers as they walked side by side, enjoying to the fullest what life had given them.

Lilly, much like Garth was experiencing with the recent loss of his father, felt loneliness fall upon her as she continued to watch the inhabitants of the park and sighed yet again. Having seen enough of what tugged at her envy, she turned her eyes down to her paws and began to walk. Down the hill and out into the public she padded, her head hung low so as to avoid the eyes of those who would stare at her and her ears flattened to ignore the whispers of those who spoke rumors through the grapevine or the sympathetic, yet empty apologies that everyone seemed so willing to hand to her as though they were as insignificant as a piece of paper blowing about on the breeze. She needed no pity, nor did she welcome it because it was not the way she was wired.

How she wished things would just go back to the way they used to be, back before the death of Tony when everything was simple, and how she missed the little things like his eyes and his laugh and the way he would try to act like he wasn't staring at her whenever she walked past and how she would stop and tease him by smirking, swinging her rear and her tail invitingly, and then would call him a dirty horndog for gawking. But he would only smile and laugh, knowing that it was all in good fun, and that they would one day mate, but only when she was absolutely ready.

These thoughts carried her all the way to her destination, previously undetermined, and when she found herself inside of Kate's den, she felt surprise and at the same time, was not surprised at all, for she frequented her sister's den whenever she felt as she did now.

"Kate?" she called softly, lifting her head.

"Sorry, Lilly," Kate said, obviously in a hurry, "I can't talk right now, I'm late."

"Okay," Lilly sighed and began to turn away, but when she was about to take her leave, Kate, upon seeing how upset she was, stopped her.

"Lilly, what's the matter," Kate asked her, causing the white she-wolf to stop and turn.

"It's fine," she replied dejectedly, "I know you're busy, so I'll just be-"

"No, Lilly," Kate interrupted, "I can stand to be a little late."

Lilly nodded and lifted her eyes.

"Now tell me what's wrong," Kate said, sitting down.

Lilly sat down as well and kneaded her paws, keeping her eyes fixed upon them.

"It's Garth again," she replied sadly, "he's getting worse, and... I..." she began to get choked up and had to pause in order to regain her composure, "I'm just so scared that I'm gonna lose him."

Kate placed a paw on her shoulder.

"Hey, it'll be alright," she said to her softly, "no need to fret."

"Kate he's stopped eating," she cried, "he won't drink anything or say anything; all he does is lay there alone and there's nothing I can do to help him because he still refuses to even look at me."

Kate rubbed her shoulder.

"Would you like me to try and talk to him?" she asked softly.

"Kate he won't-"

"Lilly, look at me," Kate interrupted, "I'll go and talk to him after my shift, okay?"

"Well, but-"

"In the meantime, you are going to take a break," she continued, "you're gonna stay right in here and you're gonna get some rest. You look tired."

"But-"

"I love you, sis," Kate said and gave her a quick hug, "now stay here and wait until I get back."

Without another word, she turned and walked out, leaving Lilly alone.

Lilly opened her mouth to offer protest one final time then closed it and conceded to her sister's demands. Kate was right. She needed a rest and some time to herself to clear her mind or else she would be in the same boat as her mate. She sighed and turned, walking toward the back of her sister's den where the light was not so intense and laid herself down where she would remain and hopefully catch up on a little bit of sleep.

* * *

"Sound off," Cail bellowed, running ahead of his group.

"Sound off," they replied breathlessly, running behind him, Humphrey in the front so that he may be motivated by those behind him.

"Sound it down."

"Sound it down."

"What's the matter?" Cail asked, running.

"What's the matter?" they repeated uniformly.

"Are you tired?" Cail asked them.

"Are you tired?" they reiterated.

"Are you tired?" Cail asked again.

"Are you tired?"

"You betcha," Cail answered.

"You betcha," they repeated.

"Real tired," Cail said.

"Real tired," they groaned in response.

"Hey you," Cail called.

"Hey you."

"I'm tired!" Cail yelled

"I'm tired!" they replied.

"Pull over," Cail said, continuing to run.

"Pull over."

"Take ten."

"Take ten."

"I'm tired!"

"I'm tired!"

And like this they continued to run, under some of the most ridiculous cadences and songs that Cail could muster.

Humphrey had never run so much in his life and he was certain that the others hadn't either, for what pup just goes out on a six mile run at the crack of dawn just for the hell of it? He couldn't think of any.

He felt as though his paws would fall off they were so sore, but he dared not slow down because if he did, the others in the group would snap at his paws, as this was what Cail had instructed them to do. He grunted and heaved with each laborious breath he took and his tongue hung limply out of the front of his mouth.

"Stop," Cail finally ordered and the students came to an immediate halt, but they did not dare fall to the ground as was their wont as they had learned through excessive physical strain what happens if you act without instruction or leave your paws before given permission.

They all stood, their heads low, and panted deeply, not a one with any kind of energy left in their bodies, but at least they were finally back to the training grounds, as they could see now that their heads began to regain comprehension of their surroundings. Humphrey felt dizzy and his parched mouth cried for water, but he remained firm because if he messed something up, he, and everyone else in his group, would be punished.

"Students," Cail said to them, his own breath short, but hardly as short as theirs.

Each of them lifted their heads to their instructor and waited for what he had to say.

"You are lucky," he said to them, "because you've completed your conditioning for the first period of training and we will now be moving into fighting and defensive skills."

The students seemed to brighten up upon hearing this, but for Humphrey, his main source of joy was the knowledge that the hard stuff was over; though fighting was not one of the things he looked forward to after the result of his first, and last, fight. He also wished that they would have been allowed a short period of rest, but it didn't appear as though that was going to happen.

"Do we have any volunteers?" Cail asked his students, "after all, I know there's at least one of you in there who would like to sock me in the jaw."

Everybody turned glances between each other, but not a one of them stepped forward, so Cail decided to take the liberty of choosing for them.

"Good man, Humphrey," he said with a smile, "thanks for volunteering."

"Huh? What?" Humphrey stammered, perking his ears and turning to face the instructor.

"I'm not gonna hurt ya son," Cail assured, "I just want you to try to hit me, now come on."

"Okay..." Humphrey answered hesitantly and stepped out so that he stood before the black alpha.

"Make your move anytime you feel you're ready," Cail said.

Humphrey nodded and waited for about two seconds before he took a jab at the alpha's muzzle, but in a flash, the alpha swept his forepaw beneath his so that his punch missed to the outside of his shoulder, but the momentum still carried him forward, and it was at this time that Cail wrapped his foreleg around Humphrey's and pulled him close to his body and delivered three quick, but intentionally light shocks to his ribs and side of his face. Once this was accomplished, he swept the omega's legs and threw him to the ground. This entire process was completed in a matter of a second and Humphrey did not know what had hit him until his back struck the ground.

"The key to most forms of fighting, students," Cail began, returning to a normal stance, "is knowing how to use your opponent's attacks against them."

The others who watched nodded intently, turning eyes between Humphrey, who was just now beginning to take to his paws once more, and their instructor.

"Now, I do understand that being on the offensive can be advantageous given the circumstances, but such circumstances can almost never become present without a solid defense to counter your opponent's offense. Humphrey, if you would be so kind as to repeat what you did earlier, but do so at a slower pace."

Humphrey seemed hesitant but did as he was told, feeing his face heat up under the spotlight in which he now found himself, and took another swing at Cail, though slowly this time, about half the speed at which he had swung on his first attempt.

"Now stop right there," Cail instructed, causing Humphrey to arrest his paw's momentum just before it made contact with the alpha's face, "once they've reached this point in their strike is when you need to begin to make your move, so, continue Humphrey. Using the foreleg opposite from the one the attacker is using," he continued as Humphrey once again began to move, "sweep your paw beneath the swing so as to deflect it away from your body, push up a short way, then begin to wrap your leg around theirs and pull them in." He then demonstrated and once Humphrey was pulled in close to his body, Cail gently jabbed him in the ribs twice then the back of his jaw. "And finally, swing your body around, take their legs out from under them with your own, and they'll fall like a tree."

The other students nodded.

"But how would you get out of that if someone were to try to do it on you?" Mark asked.

Cail turned to him.

"An excellent question," he mused, "and brought up just in time."

He then turned to Humphrey.

"Humphrey, I want you to do to me as I had done to you, but be ready for my counter," he instructed.

Humphrey nodded, though nervously, for he feared what the instructor may do to him, and readied himself.

Without any prior warning, Cail lashed out at him, his paw traveling at only a slightly slower speed than it would if this were real, but Humphrey, for the moment, locked up as he had not expected the action to be made so quickly, and the result was not pleasant for the omega. Before Cail could realize that the omega had locked up and make any attempt to redirect his paw, he brought it slamming into the side of Humphrey's muzzle with such force that the omega was sent toppling to the ground, bringing about laughter from Gauge and a select few others.

Cail immediately regretted what he had done and moved quickly over to Humphrey to check on him, but stopped when he heard the snarl.

Everything fell silent at this moment, for such a snarl was so sinister, so evil and so wicked that it froze the very blood in their veins. All eyes glued themselves upon Humphrey as he rose to his feet, his lips writhed back to the roots of his fangs and his tongue flicking between his clipping teeth. His muzzle, now sporting a baseball sized welt, was wrinkled almost up to his eyes, but that was not what frightened them. What struck fear in them, Cail included, was the haunting and inexplicable change in his eyes. It was unlike anything anybody had ever seen. His eyes, blue before he hit the ground, were now beginning to turn bloodshot, but they knew it not to be from tears, for his pupils began to dilate and his irises began to darken until they themselves became red.

Quicker than anybody could blink an eye, Humphrey leapt at Cail, his fangs and claws bared with only one purpose- to rip, to tear, and to destroy the one who had hit him. It was nothing short of a miracle that Cail managed to duck away before Humphrey could light into him, and as the omega landed, he whirled quickly to face him, his hackles raised on end. Without hesitation, Humphrey attacked again, swinging his paw at Cail, but Cail began to counter by pushing Humphrey's paw to the side and attempting to land a strike to the omega's face, but, completely unexpected to any present, Humphrey countered his counter by catching the alpha's paw and then landed a forceful blow to his face.

"Go for help," Rain pleaded to Jake, who stood in awe beside her, for she knew that this could get out of hand quite quickly.

Cail's head jerked back with the blow and when it began to rock forward, he just managed to duck a second attack, sliding under and administering an uppercut to Humphrey's chin.

Humphrey shook the blow off and then took another before landing a strike of his own to Cail's eye, slashing the skin beneath it to the bone.

Cail knew right then that he was in serious trouble and needed to end this quickly before somebody got seriously hurt, or even worse killed, so he blocked strike after strike, buying his time until finally the opportunity that he sought presented itself.

Humphrey sprung at him again but this time, Cail stood firm, waiting until the absolute last moment to move aside, causing Humphrey to snarl and land just beside him, his back and neck exposed.

Wasting no time, Cail whirled to face the omegas back and brought his paw slamming down onto the back of Humphrey's head, striking perfectly the spot where the spine meets the back of his skull.

Humphrey didn't stand a chance, for as soon as the alpha's paw made contact with the back of his head, his legs buckled and he fell to the ground almost as though struck dead.

Cail stared down at Humphrey's unconscious form for about thirty seconds then slowly lifted his eyes, finding that the disturbance had drawn a crowd. All who gathered, students and instructors alike, gazed on in awe at what had just happened and began to mutter amongst themselves about what they had seen. Cail stood for a moment longer, listening to the murmurs, then, without a word, lowered his head and turned away, taking his leave. As he reached the gathered mass, he experienced no hindrance, as they all stepped out of his way, moving aside for him as the Red Sea parted for Moses.

He cleared the crowd and began to stalk slowly away toward his personal den, but after a few paces he heard Erik's voice call out to him.

"Cail!" Erik called, running up to him, "Cail, what the hell happened?"

Cail did not even bother to stop, for he felt the need to get far away from everybody at the moment.

But Erik was persistent and followed him all the way back to his den.

Cail entered and laid down silently in the back, facing the wall.

"Cail," Erik began again, "what happened back there?"

"I can't teach him," Cail said solemnly, though remaining inert.

Erik cocked his head to the side.

"What?" he asked confused, "what do you mean?"

"I mean he's too dangerous to train," Cail replied bitterly, "a wolf like him could kill somebody and not even realize that he had done it until he wakes up from his blackout to find the blood coating his paws."

"What are you talking about, Cail?" Erik asked.

"I hit him," Cail replied, "something that shouldn't have been an issue, and if it was it should've been one that I could have handled without having to do what I did, but I think that I triggered something and for a moment there it seemed as though he became somebody else."

"Well... that's what happens when people get pissed off," Erik tried to reason, "I mean look at Miles."

"Erik his eyes turned red," Cail growled, lifting his head and turning to Erik, "and not just the white parts, but his whole damned eyes. You should have seen him. He was ferocious, almost unstoppable. If anybody less experienced had hit him as I did, they would have been killed."

By this time the other alphas began to congregate around the mouth of his den and then finally began to file in, causing Cail to rise to his feet.

"Cail, what was that all about?" Dakoda asked, receiving agreeing nods from the others behind her.

"What has been done with Humphrey?" Cail asked, dodging the question, and turned his eyes between each of them.

"Nothing at the moment," Miles replied, he's still unconscious, "but why does that matter?"

"We need to quarantine him," Cail replied, "at least until we know he has reached a stable condition."

"Cail start making sense," Dakoda demanded, "what are you talking about?"

"Humphrey is a danger to everybody in this program," he replied, "and I know it sounds crazy because he seems so docile, but I pissed him off today and he quickly became one of the toughest opponents I've ever had to fight."

He paused, moving his eyes over the crowd, but they remained silent, so he continued.

"For those of you who still may not understand the gravity of the situation, he could have killed somebody today," Cail stated seriously, "We were just lucky that he attacked me, because if he had attacked one of the other students, they wouldn't have stood a chance because as soon as his anger spiked, he lost his head and his aggression became uncontrollable. He's fast, he's strong, and above all else, he probably has no idea what he is doing until he calms down and wakes up."

The others, for a moment, only stared at him, more than likely still trying to comprehend everything that they had just been told, then after a span of about thirty seconds, they came back to life.

"W-what should we do?" Erik asked him.

Cail sighed and lowered his head, almost as though in thought, then lifted it again.

"One of us needs to haul ass back to headquarters and get Winston," Cail answered, stepping forward determinedly toward the mouth of his den, causing the others to step out of his way, "and the rest of us need to put the omega in a secure environment for observation then we need to address the students because they're probably rioting over what they just saw."

The others followed him out, nodding curtly as they listened.

"So who wants to go?" he asked them, his eyes fixed on the students in the distance, all of which were crowded around Humphrey.

"I think you should go," Miles answered, "after all, you are the one who would know the most about what happened."

Cail nodded in agreement.

"Alright, but I want you to be in charge of watching him, Miles," he replied, "if he starts asking questions, just avoid them and if that doesn't work, just think of something, but don't let him out."

Miles nodded.

"As for the rest of you, shut down operations for now," he instructed, "at least until we get things straightened out."

"But what about the students?" Erik asked.

"Keep them under control and tell them what is going on, but not to the same extremity as I did when I explained the situation to you," he replied, turning to her, "we want this to be as simple and as calm as possible."

Erik nodded.

"We'll do everything we can," he replied, then turned forward once more."

"Alright, good," Cail replied, casting a glance to the East, before turning to them once again, "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Alright," Miles replied, placing a paw on his shoulder, "good luck my friend and God speed."

Cail nodded.

"Good luck to you, too," he replied and then took off in a dead sprint toward the main grounds of Jasper Park.


End file.
